Eating leftover rice could cause food poisoning

SAN FRANCISCO – MAY 05: A bowl of jasmine rice sits on a counter in the kitchen at Osha Thai Restaurant May 5, 2008 in San Francisco, California. As rice prices continue to climb and some places are limiting the number of bags small businesses can purchase, many Bay Area restaurants are being forced to […]

(3/27/19) The National Health Service recently answered the question of whether reheating rice could cause food poising. The site, considered to be the U.K.’s biggest health website, stated that eating the leftover grain could cause problems.

On their site, NHS explains that the way rice is stored and then sequentially reheated can cause sickness. Uncooked rice contains spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that can cause food poising. Even when cooked the spores can survive in the grains of rice.

NHS warns that rice left standing a room temperature could cause the spores to grow into the bacteria. The bacteria, in turn, can cause vomiting or diarrhea.